Thursday, June 16, 2016

June 16, 1932 – George “Red” Barker is gunned
down as he walks in front of 1502 North Crawford Avenue.An abandoned machine gun and spent cartridges
are found on the floor of a room at that address.Indications are that there were shots fired
from across the street as well.Two men
and a woman walking with Barker are unharmed. They drag Barker into a car and speed
to the Keystone Hospital on North Kostner Avenue where they find the doors
locked.Kicking in the door, they
command the night nurse, Miss Elizabeth Curran, to attend to their companion, but
he has already died from his wounds.Barker had a criminal record going back 16 years and had served time in
the prison at Pontiac, Illinois.There was
little mystery behind the execution.As
the Chicago Daily Tribune observed,
“Underground rumors for some months had indicated that Barker, with Jack (Three
Fingers) White and Murray Humphreys, former Capone gangsters, had formed a
triumvirate with the intention of taking over extensive liquor and gambling
territories held by the Sicilian survivors of the Capone regime, who had
control of practically the whole of the county.”[Chicago
Daily Tribune, June 17, 1932] The
son of a policeman, Barker heads to his grave at Mt. Carmel Cemetery in
style.4,000 people observe his final
ride as 18 carloads of flowers follow the hearse.